Reborn & Waiting
by sjam
Summary: She wakes up alone, lost. Her past and her future lay in Wu, and she has to find herself again to stop the war that could kill the person she loves & ruin the family she left behind. She is the princess that was forgotten. She is Sun Shang Xiang.


**Chapter One: Alive Again**

Neua was sitting at the bar in a smoky, loud pub surrounded by total strangers. She was happy by herself, downing her drinks and trying to figure out just what was going on in that strange, confused mind of hers.

Because she had forgotten her life.

Well, pretty much – blurred faces, random memories and voices aren't really much to go on. All Neua knew was that she needed to got to Wu and find her past (and also, that Neua wasn't really her name. Something she was glad of because was totally weird) All she had to go on was a name – Zhou Yu.

A famous strategist, amazingly handsome and a very skilled warrior were just a few of the descriptions she came across. People seemed eager to help Neua, this lost girl. She looked like a drowning angel with long tangled red hair, blue eyes and a haunted look on her face.

Eventually she had found that he lived on a large amount of land with two buildings, many horses and a pet dog in the countryside near the capital of Wu, and though he mostly resided in the palace, a recent family matter meant he was with his family.

Neua flung a coin on the table and slid awkwardly off of her stool and made her way back outside. The nights were cold now, and Neua found herself shivering in the thin red top and trousers she had awoken in – oh how she wished she had spent her money on a cloak instead of some alcoholic drinks.

"Hey! Are you going past the Zhou house?" she yelled at a nearby merchant as he clambered into his cart.

"I sure am little lady – I'll take ya for free as a pretty young sweetie like you shouldn't be alone these cold nights; hop in."

Neua thanked her lucky stars that the merchant was a kind fatherly looking fellow and not a creepy weirdo like she somehow knew that she'd met before.

The long journey was spent mostly in silence, Neua wondering what the hell she was going to say, and the merchant wondering what this drowned-looking girl had to do with such a rich yet disgraced family.

They got there late at night, and with a cheery farewell, Neua began to walk slowly up the path to the house. There was a smaller one to the stables, and she instinctively took it.

There was one man in there, and with a jolt Neua's memories of him came rushing back in whirl of pictures and words, a whirlwind of feelings, thoughts and conversations.

And her name. It was almost there, on the very tip of her tongue, yet somewhat unreachable.

"Um…hello?" she called out nervously. She wanted to see him; the desire to see a familiar face, to be recognised was almost taking over.

He turned around questioningly. When he saw her, his face became very white, shocked and confused.

"Sun Shang Xiang? How is it possible? It is really you, isn't it?"

Neua (or Sun Shang Xiang as we'll now call her) burst out into sobs, yet a smile was on her face.

"I can't remember hardly anything Yu…but yes, it's me."

Zhou Yu walked forwards and held her in his warm arms. Shang could feel his tears as well, wet on her cheeks mingling with her own. They stood like that for what seemed like forever, and eventually the crying ceased.

"Shang Xiang…I'll take you to see your father, stop him from attacking Shu – it's suicidal. Of course, we'll have to keep you hidden mostly until you remember everything. Come, get up behind me."

He mounted a horse, helping Shang get up behind him.

"I…am very glad to see you Zhou Yu. I missed you – I missed _knowing _you." She said quietly as they rode, leaning on his back. He had leant her a cloak to wrap around her and the hood would hide her face.

Zhou Yu smiled again, the pure joy of hearing her voice sending shock through him.

"I missed you too Shang. Everyone has."

He wanted to get her warm and dry – she currently looked almost like he had imagined her corpse to look. They had never found it; now he knew why.

"I did die.." she whispered suddenly, and she felt Yu tense up, but stayed listening. "I can remember it, I have nightmares sometimes. But I'm alive now. Maybe fate went wrong, and I was only alive again since a few days ago."

She thought to herself how strange that sounded. But all thoughts fled from her mind as she rested her tired head on Yu's shoulder and slowly fell asleep.

Zhou Yu gently shook Shang's shoulder and couldn't help the smile that appeared on his face when she opened those blue eyes and looked at him blearily. She had not changed at all – he almost expected her to smack him round the head like she always did when she was woken up.

"Fuck off – oh, we're here." Zhou Yu snorted at her coarse language and helped her off of the horse, making sure the hood was up and leading her inside.

"Wake Sun Jian immediately and have him come to my rooms." He muttered quietly to a servant as they entered the corridors. The man nodded and hurried away.

Sun Shang Xiang clung to his arm as they went up the stairs to Zhou Yu's room, the anxiety nearly choking her. Her daddy, her father…he was here. Suddenly the urge to fling her arms around her father's neck overwhelmed her, and she looked down trying to fight back tears.

She sat on Zhou Yu's bed, clean with new clothes, jigging her legs with impatience. She had roughly cut her hair back to its' short appearance that she was used too, thankful to have it out of the way.

"He is coming isn't he?" she asked Zhou Yu again, biting her lip.

Zhou Yu chuckled, nodding as a knock on the door came. Shang gasped in firght.

"I'm scared."

Zhou Yu ruffled her hair and walked into the main room part of his chambers to the door. Shang sighed nervously as she heard low voices.

"She's alive – impossible!"

Footsteps.

A man walked in, his face tired and expectant, yet ready for disappointment. Yet when he saw Shang on the bed, eyes full of tears, his face lit up and he held out his arms as Shang flung herself at him.

"Oh I missed you daddy…" she whispered into his neck, the familiar scent of him flooding more memories into her mind.

Sun Jian held his daughter tight, the joy at finding her again unable to be put into words.

"I love you my daughter. I thought I'd lost you."

Zhou Yu stepped out of the room, closing the door behind him and many questions cramming into his brain. He looked out of the window and smiled at the brightly shining star of the Princess.

"So now I know why you only faded, never left us," he whispered to the star, "You had just left for a while. You were going to come back."

_You'd never leave us like this._


End file.
